MP's want more money to teach asylum kids Dutch

A majority in Dutch parliament wants more money to be made available to give asylum children language lessons for two years, instead of the current one year, NU.nl reports.

GroenLinks came up with the proposal and manged to convince the PvdA to join after some effort. The SP, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie also support the proposal. This means that a majority of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of parliament, wants the government to make more money available to teach asylum children.

Currently schools in the Netherlands receive extra funding to give language lessons to asylum children for one year. PO-Raad, the dome organization for primary schools, feel that this is not nearly enough. According to the organization, it is very difficult to get rid of a disadvantage obtained at an early age. And asylum children will deal with that disadvantage for the rest of their lives.

The VVD is against the proposal. And so is responsible State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education. According to him, the existing arrangements for asylum children are adequate. He adds that the funding for these extra language lessons will have to come for somewhere and "my colleagues of Finance have no money machine", he said, according to NU. Dekker called on the parties to see for themselves where the money for their plan should come from.